Rejecting Rejection
by dandy-akinoris
Summary: Everyone told Kaelin, codename Kestrelflight, that first year was chaotic, but he was pretty sure they weren't talking about uncovering traitors and getting looped into mafia ploys. There was no way back now, and he has to keep fighting for himself and the new friends he meets along the way. (AKA attention to minor characters)


Kbox(mosspath16): Hi hi guys!

I'm basically just Donut (StuffyJinx)'s friend and I had free time (ish) so I decided to join her on this amazing fanfic writing. (tears because I'm failing school BUT WE ARE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT THAT)

So this fanfic is basically all Donut's idea cause currently my creativity box is very very empty…. I'm just here to help her develop the story (i.e. characterization, setting, plot) while she actually generates the story….

And so… read her AN below because it has all the information on it ↓ ↓ ↓

Donut (StuffyJinx):

Hello AWESOME READERS!

I got an idea for a human spy Warriors AU awhile ago but life and school had other lovely plans. ;-;

With me today is the great and powerful kbox, AKA mosspath16. We will be writing this fic together! :DDD

Here is her wattpad, where this story is also posted (just add https and wattpad) → 482194333-rejecting-rejection-a-n

The thing with the Warriors series is that most of the characters aren't main characters and therefore don't get much lines. This fic will mostly star minor characters like Kestrelflight that don't have much personality available in the series. I will most likely not base this off of the new series.

Because of that, the more fleshed out parts of their character will be pretty much my personal headcanons, like Kestrelflight's shyness around strangers.

Also keep in mind, there will be loooots of age and relation changes. I prolly won't specify exactly how old they are, but for example, Thrushpelt and Hollowflight are very close in age in here while in the series they're like three or four generations apart.

Also also, if I write any character out of character, please tell me! It's super important to me that I write them correctly based on what little lines they do have.

If you have any character you want me to feature, please please please tell me! I only have a very loose plot for this fic, which means there's tons of flexibility for more characters! Same goes for ships, though also keep in mind that a lot of the ships I will add for sure are not straight. :) Feel free to request straight ships though.

Anyhow, the beautiful kitties here will have 'normal' human names, but also have a codename that is their regular warrior/med cat/kit/cat name.

In advance, here's the names that this chapter will have:

Kestrelflight - Kaelin

Runningwind - Will

Thrushpelt - Tristan

Please let me know if you guys want physical descriptions of the human kitties!

I'll add them in the A/N of next chapter if so! :D

Last but definitely not least, I wanna give a shoutout to this awesome site(just get rid of the spaces and add https) →  site / warriorcatspage / free-books

Here you can read pretty much every Warriors book for free! This reaaallllly helped me when I was scouring the books for lines of the very minor characters that are featured in this fic. Of course, supporting the Erins by buying the books is a great thing to do, so please do so if you have the luxury of doing so, but if you're a broke student like me, that site is a great place.

If you can think of where the title and/or chapter title comes from, drop a comment on it and you'll get a special prize!

Now, (finally) on to the story!

Disclaimer: The Warriors series doesn't belong to me sadly

* * *

Will forced his eyes open, rubbing them until they were sore to clear out the fogginess. Sitting up, he yawned blissfully and stretched. He couldn't remember having slept so well in ages. His eyes flickered to the clock on pure instinct and widened at the blinking red numbers, 7:21 instead of the 6:57 he'd set his alarm for.

Will froze in panic, dread pooling heavily in his gut.

He overslept. Not just on any day, but the first day of class.

"Oh crap oh crap oh crapola mother of crapmingos." Will tried to jump out of bed, but only ended up getting thoroughly tangled in his patterned sheets. Squirming in a frenzied hysteria, he managed to roll off of the small bed with a painful thump.

Will didn't even have time to hiss in pain from where he'd landed on the corner of a textbook. For third years, class started at eight AM sharp.

It was only at moments like these that Will was grateful for his natural messiness, as he could just randomly grab a T-shirt and a pair of pants off the floor and be out of the door. Of course, his unkempt side of the dorm room caused more damage than good, being once again proven when he tripped over one of many unpacked boxes and tumbled to the ground. To his defense, though, he'd only moved into the dorm yesterday, and passed out, completely exhausted.

It was only when he'd finally made it over to his roommate's side of the room that he allowed himself a moment to catch his breath. They hadn't officially met, but the Wind division boy he was paired up with was much tidier than he was. His floor was completely devoid of stray objects, the carpet so far clean of any coffee stains caused by a clumsy trip over some misplaced items.

Will snagged a few stalks of celery that he shoved into the mini fridge the day before and sprinted out the door. Luckily, students didn't need any supplies on the first day.

Will was entirely out of breath when he finally reached the train station. Unfortunately, his family was one of those cheap Asian families that chose the cheapest place of residence offered. It wasn't too bad, honestly, with only a four minute bus ride and a thirteen minute bike ride.

He pulled his watch out of his pocket and checked the time. When he did, he grinned. It had only taken him two minutes to run to the bus top. He had no idea that he could run that fast, considering he was a Thunder kid and not a Wind kid.

He bounced on his toes as he waited for the bus, staring at the white puffs that condensed in the air through his panting. He tried to take in as much air as possible, forcing his breathes to still while stuffing the last bit of celery into his mouth. Waiting had never been his strong point, especially with the added factor of being potentially late for the first day of class.

The bus finally pulled up to the stop, the sound of its wheels screeching to a halt stilled by the cold, unmoving air. Will felt despair once again curl in his chest as he took in the sight of how crowded the bus was. The entire vehicle seemed to be swarming with people and looked as if it could collapse at any moment.

Even so, an elderly lady hobbled onto the bus, barely avoiding being hit in the face by the opening doors. Will knew he could probably fit himself in there as well. His mother was constantly telling to eat more, and even so his bones still poked out sharply.

Will glanced at the bus again, then took a deep breath and started sprinting in the direction of the school. If he did get in there, he knew it would become a disaster very soon. He would accidentally tread over someone's feet, trip over a small child, or maybe even managed to touch someone in less than appropriate places.

Will gasped for air like a dying fish and pushed himself forward. His legs burned like it was the first day of training again, and his lungs quite honestly felt like they were going to pop. Every step pulled at the cramp that crawled up his ribs and onto his shoulders. Even so, he continued to run like his life depended on it.

After what seemed like nineteen eternities, the tall building finally came into view. Will was ready to cry tears of pure happiness as he pulled out his student card and was let in.

Half-limping, half-skipping from the the pain in his calf, Will made his way to his homeroom for the year before, which, thankfully, was on the first floor. He couldn't imagine having to walk up two to five flights of stairs after running all the way to the school.

As he stumbled across the doorway just as the first period bell went off, many people turned around and gave him either curious or judging looks, no doubt wondering why he was audibly wheezing and flushed firetruck red.

"Looks likes there's a reason they call you Runningwind," someone snickered from the back of the room.

The teacher cleared her throat with a tight lipped frown and tapped her heeled foot impatiently against the tiles, bringing the attention back onto her.

Will felt more heat spiel onto his face as he made his way over to his seat in the middle of the room. He had to go past many other desks, and at one point almost tripped.

"Well," the teacher began, "welcome everyone to third year. Thank you for coming and being prepared for this year." Will sunk further into his seat at her words that were purposefully directed towards him.

"It's alright," a voice whispered to his right. Will looked up to see a boy with impossibly fluffy caramel curls grinning at him. Strange, he definitely wasn't in his class last year. He was also panting slightly, with a red flush of exertion still visible on his cheeks and checkered shirt rumpled.

"I'm Thrushpelt, Tristan." He stuck his hand out.

Will felt his lips turn up as well. "Runningwind, but I like Will much better."

* * *

"Okay, don't panic, Kae. You've got this," Kaelin whispered to himself as he looked up at the dauntingly sleek building. It was a shiny dark silver, with the words 'The Erin Hunter Institution of Combat and Intelligence' written in bold white lettering. There were two guards standing in front of the building, and after reaching the main entrance, Kaelin scrambled to fish out his identification card for the one with a handheld scanner. The guard was completely impassive as he scanned the card and moved aside for Kaelin to pass, not moving when the books in Kaelin's arms slipped and crashed onto the cement in his fumbling.

Kaelin dove for the books, hugging them to his chest and hurriedly pushing open the massive rotating doors, mortified.

As soon as he stepped inside, however, he froze.

The lobby probably was wide and spacious, though to Kaelin it seemed cramped and tight from the sheer amount of people swarming everywhere.

With one shaking hand, Kaelin clutched his books tighter to his chest and with the other pushed his slipping glasses up the bridge of his nose. His shoulders started to ache slightly from the weight of his backpack and the supplies inside.

Kaelin took a deep breath and shifted forward.

The crowd seemed to surge out to meet him, enveloping him from all sides and causing him to freeze in his tracks. He swerved around many people, the velocity almost causing him to trip and fall down again. His small frame didn't exactly help either, as most of those around him stood over a head over him.

When he finally broke through the lobby and ran to a somewhat empty hallway, he finally remembered where he needed to go.

 _Alright… where is the auditorium…?_

Kaelin rummaged in his backpack for the map he had supposedly printed out early, only to discover that it wasn't there. Now without his map, he was slightly regretting his decision to skip the tour of the school for the first years, in favour of binge watching anime.

He looked around the empty hallways, the muffled sounds of chatter left behind him in the lobby. Peeking around the corners, it was to his discovery that he was, indeed, severely lost.

Suppressing a groan, he flipped open his watch, the glass catching the light and nearly blinding him through his circular framed glasses. Ducking his eyes down, he could make out the numbers 9:00 AM on the watch face, with the ceremony starting at 9:30. Thirty more minutes, plenty of time.

"Enough time… right?" he mused to himself, absentmindedly snapping the watch lid shut with a click.

Right?

Calm down. Calm down, no need to get upset.

Just breathe.

"Breathe, you've got this."

Kaelin's shoulders ached from carrying his backpack full of textbooks and pens, and after swinging it lightly on the floor, he took his water bottle, unscrewing it and raising the rim to his mouth. It was only then that he realized that the water bottle in his band was empty and had yet to be filled.

Why did everything that could possibly go wrong, choose to do it today?

Sighing, he screwed the cap back on and glanced at the scarce hallways around him, taking in a trickle of people filtering into the classrooms near him. Now would be the best time to make his chance.

Now or never.

Breathe.

Water bottle in hand, Kaelin hung the backpack over his shoulders loosely and marched into the nearest classroom he could find.

"Just ask where the small auditorium is, fill your water bottle, and leave. That's the plan," he murmured as he opened the door, taking in the open mouthed students and teacher staring at him.

Already, he could sense that someone had gone wrong.

"May I help you…?" the teacher asked him, his balding head bobbling every so slightly. Everyone else in the classroom snickered slightly, taking in the navy blue sweater vest Kaelin was wearing compared to the rest of their white collared uniforms.

Trying to ignore the other students, Kaelin attempted a smile that came off more as a grimace. "Ah… yes…. Do you happen to know where the small auditorium is?" he asked, ever so politely, unconsciously backing up slightly.

"Not on this side of the building," one person muttered.

"In the _first_ years section." another high-pitched voice chimed in. Wincing, Kaelin could hear the emphasis on the 'first'.

The teacher nodded towards the direction of the class. "This is the second and third years class, first years are entranced through the back door, auditorium is right to the left of entering the building."

Face slowly starting to burn up with embarrassment, Kaelin backed away to the door, his steps slow and hesitant. "Thank you…. I'm so sorry…. I'll be going now…. So sorry again…." he murmured quietly, looking down at the feet until reaching the door-frame. Closing out the sound of laughter and snickering from inside the classroom, he trudged down the hallway, head down to avoid any other encounters with the second and third years passing by him.

The sight of a water foundation stopped him in his tracks. Pausing to unscrew his water bottle and fill it up, Kaelin softly began to chastise himself, "Way to embarrass yourself in front of all the upperclassmen, Kaelin. Why couldn't you have read the 'Second-Third Years Only' sign before walking in. Just why?"

Sighing, he capped his water bottle again and followed the signs to the first years' lobby. The only sounds in his hallway being the _thunk_ of his sneakers against the tiled and polished floor, mixed with the indistinctive chatter and occasional shouting from the neighboring classrooms. With nothing else to do on his trek, Kaelin counted the steps along the way, reaching a grand total of seventeen before colliding with the trashcan at the end of the hallway. Momentarily stunned, Kaelin reoriented himself, staggering on uneven steps to the auditorium.

 _Time to get this over with_


End file.
